Sir William Alexander Denny (born 5 August 1943) is a New Zealand medicinal chemist, noted for his work investigating drugs for the treatment of cancer.

Early life and education

Denny was born in

Malvern, Worcestershire Malvern is a spa town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The centre of Malvern, Great Malvern, is a historic conservation area, which grew dra ...

, England, on 5 August 1943. His parents were Norah May () and Alexander William Denny. The family emigrated to New Zealand in 1946. He received his education at

Patumahoe Patumahoe or Patumāhoe is a small town of Auckland, New Zealand. It is in the Franklin Ward of Auckland Council. The name means to strike or kill with a patu made of wood from māhoe. Demographics Patumāhoe is defined by Statistics New Ze ...

Primary School and Te Awamutu College where he was

dux ''Dux'' (; plural: ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, ''dux' ...

in 1961. At the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

, he obtained a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in 1966, a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in 1967, a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

in 1969, and a

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

in 1986. He had an ICI (

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at M ...

) post-doctoral fellowship at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

from 1969 to 1972.

Career

From 1972 to 1979, he was a senior research fellow at the Auckland Cancer Research Laboratory. He was visiting professor at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

from 1979 to 1981. He then returned to the Cancer Research Laboratory and from 1988, was their director. In 2011 Denny was made a Distinguished Professor at the University of Auckland.

Honours and awards

Denny won a

Union for International Cancer Control The Union for International Cancer Control (previously named International Union Against Cancer) or UICC is a non-governmental organisation with some 1,180 member organisations in more than 170 countries. UICC was founded in 1933 and is based i ...

International Travel Fellowship in 1984. In 1986, he won the ICI New Zealand prize for excellence in research. Denny was elected a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry in 1981 and a

Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

in 1988. In 1995, he was awarded the society's Rutherford Medal, alongside the Auckland Cancer Research Laboratory, for innovation in the development of new anti-cancer drugs. In the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours, Denny was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to cancer research. He was promoted to

Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to medical research, in the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours. Denny was inducted into the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

Division of Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denny, Bill 1943 births Living people People from Malvern, Worcestershire New Zealand chemists New Zealand medical researchers Academic staff of the University of Auckland Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit University of Auckland alumni English emigrants to New Zealand Fellows of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand Recipients of the Rutherford Medal People educated at Te Awamutu College